Bijan and Laharn
Bijan and Laharn, officially the Union of Bijan and Laharn (Esperanto: Unio de Biĵano kaj Laharno) is an island country and federal directorial republic located in the Indian Ocean between Java and the Australian mainland. It consists of two constituent states, named Bijan and Laharn, and has a total area of approximately 92,000 square kilometres. The capital and largest city is Hadar, the metropolitan area of which spreads across the two constituent states. In 2014, the population was approximately 15 million, most of whom live mostly in the north of the island, where the terrian is moderately hilly in the west and flatland in the east. Several population centers are also located in the central and eastern interior of the country, where the terrain is more mountainous. The island has a maritime climate in the transition region between the temperate and subarctic regions, marked by both low seasonal and diurnal temperature ranges and no marked wet and dry seasons. Bijan and Laharn has its origins in the separate Bijani and Laharna kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, became subject to the British Empire. Prior to this, the area had been contacted by the Dutch and Portuguese. The kingdoms existed in a loose confederation under British protection until 1912, when they were organized into a single colony called Bijan. The colony was granted independence in 1948 as the Republic of Bijan, which cemented the status of the Bijani as the ruling elite and further plunging the Laharna into second-class citizen status. The Laharna eventually organized into resistance groups to protest unequal treatment and no representation, and civil unrest intensified in the 1970s. A Soviet-supported Laharna uprising in 1983 was quickly quelled by Bijani authorities. Growing international pressure led to power-sharing talks in the early 1990s, but the assassination of the Bijani president in 1996 sparked a nine-year civil war. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed approximately 50,000 citizens and displaced a further 400,000. The devastation from the tsunami ultimately brought about an end to the civil war in 2005, at which point a United Nations peacekeeping mission began administering the country. The process of democratization since 2005 has been slow, but gradual. A new constitution went into effect in 2013, which organizes the country into a federation of a Bijani state and a Laharna state, each with its own president, legislature and courts. A federal government oversees the country's foreign relations and moderates relations between the states. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a large role in politics. The constitution declares the country is secular with freedom of religion guaranteed. The government system is closely modeled on the Swiss directorial system, and the legal system is based on English common law. The nine-member Presidential Council acts both as a collective presidency and a cabinet. Bijan and Laharn's current situation is still turbulent, with the challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism and the ongoing democratization process, and period of rapid economic change. It is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources, and in 2011, its GDP stood at $13.1 billion. Despite positive economic growth in recent years, Bijan and Laharns' potential is difficult to realize because its infrastructure is in desperate need of further development. Etymology History Government and politics Foreign relations and military Administrative divisions Geogrpahy Environment Economy Demographics Culture Bijan and Laharn|Nearly Real World Category:Bijan and Laharn